Archive for the ‘advice’ Category

Top Attractions for Toddlers

September 7th, 2010

It’s September and everyone has gone back to school. So, what better time to take your little one’s to a theme park!

There are plenty of rides to keep toddlers entertained. And what’s best, the queues will be a lot shorter as it’s off-peak season! Here’s our selection of rides for kids under 5…

Alton Towers Waterpark

Alton Towers Waterpark

LEGOLAND®
LEGOLAND really does cater for younger children, with so many of it’s attractions and rides aimed for this age group. Kids will love to see the LEGO models in the LEGO Creation Centre. Or they can design their very own LEGO car in the Rocket Racers area. For something a bit more adventurous, 3-5 year olds get the chance to race their very own LEGO car in the L Drivers zone. Even better, children under 3 years old get into the park for FREE! Hurrah!

Alton Towers
For a real treat, plan a family trip to the Alton Towers Waterpark. The younger children won’t be able to go on all of the big flumes, as restrictions apply, but there is The Little Leak pool, which is shallow enough for your kids to have plenty of fun in! Or take a visit to the pirate themed aquarium. Sharkbait Reef is full of sharks, fish and rays for you to see. Be brave and dip your fingers into the UK’s only Tropical Interactive Pool!

Chessington World of Adventures Resort
If the kids want even more driving experience, take them to Chessington for a ride on the Tiny Truckers. Or if they have lots of energy, let them run around the Dragon’s Playhouse. This indoor soft play area is the ideal place to let them have some fun! Alternatively, take some time out of your busy day at the park and enjoy a live show. The Dragon’s Tale Theatre has shows running throughout the day at 11am, 1pm or 3pm (see site for more information) and join the characters as they embark on a safari themed adventure.

You don’t need to go onto the biggest roller coasters to enjoy a day out at a UK Theme Park, see what else there is to explore and book your family break today.

Top 10 Queue Busting Tips

July 21st, 2010

Want to beat the theme park queues this Summer? Simple, just follow our 10 helpful tips…

1. Print at Home Tickets
To save time, buy your tickets to the park on line and print them out at home to avoid the queues at the entrance gates. All our themepark tickets are print at home, just print off the email attachment, stroll past the ticket queues and scan your barcoded ticket at the entrance – easy!
 
2. Plan in Advance
If you’re going in a large group, have a look at the park map and plan which rides you want to go on BEFORE you arrive. This way you’re not wasting time deciding which rides to go on all day.
 
3. Go Outside of School Holidays or during weekdays
School holidays and weekends are obviously the busiest times for theme parks, so if you can, go when the parks are quieter and the queues are shorter.
 

Stay overnight at a hotel and beat the queues the following morning!

4. Book a Break
Stay the night before your visit and head to the park ready for opening time, that way you’ll be first onto the most popular rides or stay late and enjoy the rides once everyone else is heading home and head to your hotel for the evening. In fact why not do both and book yourself in for a proper family adventure.
 
5. Start at the Back of the Park …..
and work your way forward! Everyone else will be starting at the front, so this way you’re more likely to get on the rides quicker.
 
6 Have a Late or Early Lunch
Visit the big rides when everyone else will be eating – usually around 12 – 2pm – and hopefully there will be less people in the ride queue and you may avoid the lunch queue too!
 
7. Fast Track Tickets
Although they cost extra money on top of your entrance ticket many people say they are well worth it. Fast Track tickets are a great way to beat the queues on the most popular rides. Simply pay at the stand for your ticket and head straight to the front of the queue! LEGOLAND Windsor offer Q-bot from just £10pp which queues for you on the most popular rides, you can just turn up at your allocated time straight into the fast track entrance.
 
8. Stay at the On Site Hotel
By staying at an on site hotel the night before you can be first in the queue the following morning AND beat the crowds. During school holidays Chessington give 30 minutes early ride time to those staying at the on site Holiday Inn Chessington.
 
9. Download the App
THORPE Park have now launched their app for the iPhone which helps you keep up to date with the queue times while you are actually at the park. Brilliant!
 
10. Visit the Most Popular Ride First
This way, even if you do have to queue, at least you know you have been on it! And if you get into the park nice and early, the queue is likely to be shorter.
 

Time for a holiday… and then another

October 5th, 2009

We have a new boy to introduce to the class today. Everybody, this is Ian and he runs the popular parenting blog Single Parent Dad.

Ian is dad to four-year-old Max and is Play and Stay’s latest guest blogger. We’re sure you’ll all get along wonderfully.

Everyone looks forward to their holidays.

Well, perhaps not everyone. If you are Judith Chalmers they probably become a bit of a chore, however, most people will look forward to their jaunts, and count down the days to when they begin.

Life can be a bit like that. Without getting too deep, having something on the horizon that you are looking forward to can make the perceived boring “now” much more bearable.

sandcastle

Over my lifetime I have taken many different holidays to many different places and that have lasted for many different durations. The way in which they have been organised, played-out and their purpose has altered massively too.

The holidays in my childhood were totally out of my hands, yet totally awesome as I had nothing to do with the organising or paying side. I would just get head-deep in all the fun that was going on, like digging sandcastles on the beach, or better still, knocking down the ones that my father had laboured over.

In my youth they became all about drinking and silliness, and once that was rid from my system they became more about a break from work, and relaxation of both body and mind.

Next was going on holiday as a couple, which became all about spending quality — and by that I mean uninterrupted — time together. This became, or was to become, even more important when two became a family, and there was a little one to pack stuff for (and remember to put in the car).

Since being widowed, holidays have been about many more things; environment changes, inspiration, exploration, peace, focus, challenging the norm, and taking myself out of my comfort zone. But all these holidays have had one thing in common.

When they are done, I really feel like I really need another so I can recover.

In the early days it was because my excesses had shattered me, and a return to the norm became even more exhausting than it was before I had left.

Then it was because I would discover that no one would have done my work while I was away, neither was there a magical elf on my doorstep to greet me and deal with the mountain of washing I had returned with. These days that mountain is no smaller, granted it is made of smaller clothes, yet the summit is still lofty.

Breaks with toddlers are also beautifully exhaustive; emotionally and physically. I love going away with my boy and experiencing new people and places with him. The joy on his face is totally infectious, and there are regular happy tears on our adventures. But we do both return shattered, me much more than my ever-ready powered four-year-old of course.

Over these last summer holidays I arranged a series of short breaks, segregated by equally brief stints at home. There was a purpose to my plan — to keep our holidays fun-packed, and to make the days at home really feel like a holiday too.

Our days at home were filled with visiting places, visiting people or even hosting friends, themselves in the middle of their own holidays.

There were also fabulous, and I mean fabulous, service stops. It was like we ran the summer on two sets of clothes. One current, one washed at home waiting to be ironed, and the two would switch over at our pit-stops. It made the perceived need for another holiday diminish a little, but not fade completely.

I really just need holiday, after holiday, after holiday. Thinking about it, maybe Judith doesn’t have it so bad after all.

The Adventure Bag

September 21st, 2009

As if the Play and Stay staffers weren’t enough for our lovely readers we’ve invited two of the UK’s top parent bloggers to write exclusive posts for us.

First up is Sally Whittle, mummy blogger extraordinaire at Who’s The Mummy where she discusses life with four-year old daughter Flea.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and if you want to join our select panel of bloggers then get in touch.

I have this theory about parenting. Faced with the awesome responsibility of not raising a serial killer, new parents latch on to anyone who can tell us the “right” stuff to do. That’s why we spend £5 a week on classes to help our children walk along a bench in a straight line, or to hit a tambourine.

But when you think about it, the things that are the most fun aren’t usually organised. They’re almost certainly not the sorts of things that are designed to boost your child’s development or give them a head start. Flea and I did the activity class thing, but it’s fair to say she’s not big on organised fun.

At swimming class, Flea didn’t want to take her float off – which is pretty smart when you think about it because she was 18 months old and couldn’t swim. It’s hard to fault that kind of logic, really.

MorrisseyAt a musical group, she didn’t understand why we kept listening to nursery rhymes, and repeatedly asked, “When are we having some guitar music?” That’d be my fault for introducing her to The Smiths, then.

Perhaps our most traumatic experience was at a language skills class, when Flea made the grave error of talking when it was time for listening. The look the class leader fixed poor Flea with reduced her to tears.

These days we’re big believers in disorganised fun. We’ve created a special bag that lives in the car, and it’s called The Adventure Bag. Inside The Adventure Bag is everything we need to go off and have fun somewhere. There’s a picnic blanket, water bottle, spare set of clothes and our camera. There’s also a Spider-Man figure and three small dinosaurs. Because you should always have a dinosaur or two on your side when you’re having adventures.

Over breakfast, Flea and I think about what we’d like to do. While I’m drinking coffee, Flea likes nothing more than considering her options, and will eventually say, “Mummy, I’ve got a brilliant idea.” Our adventures this year have included visiting museums, exploring the Lake District, various zoos and safari parks, numerous beaches, one theme park and one day when the GPS broke down, the town of Harrogate (we were supposed to be in Ilkley, I’m still not completely sure what went wrong).

Wherever we go, we buy a small badge or pin, and stick it on The Adventure Bag. Over the years, I hope the bag will become covered in images that are a visual record of all the places we’ve been together. Already, the bag holds lots of lovely memories of the first place Flea went sailing, the day she discovered dinosaur bones, the long afternoon we spent having a barbecue on Brighton beach and the day we went to Chester Zoo and spent the entire day looking at different varieties of monkey.

I figure that when Flea is a teenager and would rather poke herself in the eye than be seen in public with her mother, I’ll have all those memories of our adventures, thanks to The Adventure Bag. And you know what? I bet those memories will be a lot better than anything involving church halls and a tambourine.

Keeping The Kids Safe At A Theme Park

August 14th, 2009

The sun is shining (or not, which is more likely to be the case in the UK), the kids are off school and you have taken some holiday from work to spend some quality time with them. What better place to keep everyone entertained than a day out at a theme park.

There are so many fantastic parks to chose from and a whole range of fun rides to try out. However, as we all know, kids can get easily excited and are often tempted to run off if they see things they like. But do not fear, with just a few small preparations you can enjoy a fun-filled day out, knowing you have taken measures to keep your kids as safe as possible.

Picture: 'J'@flickr

Picture: 'J'@flickr

There are several things you can do to prepare for your day out before leaving the house.

Dress in bright clothing
On the morning of your theme park adventure, dress your children in bright colours and take note of what they are wearing. If they are young enough to let you dress them all exactly the same, without feeling less “hip” then go for it. You want them to stand out in a crowd so it is easy for you to see them at all times. I once took three boys to Gullivers Land in bright orange t-shirts and it really worked like a charm, even when one of them tried to hide behind a fence.

Wear identity bands
It is a wise idea to place a discreet identity band around your child’s wrist, including their name and your mobile phone number. That way if the first thing they do is run towards the most sparkly object they can see and get lost amid a crowd of people, they will hopefully be returned to you in no time.

Avoid named clothes and accessorise
Although an identity band is recommended it is not a good idea to dress your kids in attire which displays their name in an obvious way. For instance avoid those headbands which spell out names in glitter and personalised football strips. If a stranger approaches your child using his or her name, they might be more inclined to follow the person.

Use code words
Before you arrive at the theme park, agree on a code word that everyone must learn. Tell the children not to go off with anyone unless the person knows the code word. The chances that a stranger will guess the correct word are very low and the children will learn about stranger danger.

Here are some great tips to keep safe once at the theme park

Picture: audi_insperation@flickr

Picture: audi_insperation@flickr

Agree on a meeting place
When you arrive at the theme park, decide on a meeting point to return to if you get lost. Use the tallest, brightest attraction in the park as your meeting point because this can be seen from long a distance.

Chose appropriate rides
Use common sense when you are at the park and only go on rides suitable for both you and your children, as you never want to leave children alone while you go on the attraction. Obey height and weight limits and always make sure your children have seen the ride before taking them on it. Having a child screaming all the way round is not ideal.

Use suncream, wear hats and refuel
Especially on hot, sunny days it is vital to use suncream, particularly on children as they burn very easily. You will be out in the sun a lot at a theme park so make sure you reapply the cream regularly. Hats will also shade faces and protect scalps. Even if the weather seems dull or windy be careful, because you may get wind burn or not realise how hot it is if there are clouds in the sky.

Drink plenty of water as dehydration is very dangerous. Youngsters will use a lot of energy when they are excited and need to keep hydrated and well fed so they don’t feel unwell.

If you forget to bring suncream or water, there should be cafes and gift shops spread around the theme park where you can purchase these items.

Stay safe this summer with a little forward planning and sensible thinking. Enjoy a fantastic day out at one of the many theme parks in the UK, without too much worry, thanks to these great safety tips.